Dr. MH Iiyas and Dr. Shamshad Hussain
Dr. M. H. Iliyas and Dr. Shamshad Hussain talked about the Transnational imaginations within Kerala, at the fifth edition of Kerala Literature Festival here at Kozhikode.. The session was a part of the series, Art Life,Waste curated by Riyas Komu. He introduced the speakers and the session, the first in the series.
The talk focused on the neglect of historically important sociocultural aspects of our society. Dr. Iliyas started the talk with his research topic, on Sayyid Faisal Mambaram, who, even after having a globally important life, was never discussed other than recently. Dr. Iliyas raised the question as to why such instances reccurred. He then talked about the languages and cultures outside of the state which find difficulty in acceptance even now. He said that most of the knowledge acquired and documented is intercultural and stands important in history.
Further, Dr. Shamsad Hussain talked about the Mappila Patt culture which was first included under the folk songs but now linked to the Muslim religion and community as it's origin has links to manuscripts like "Bahija Qutub" mentioned in Muhyadheen Mala. Dr. Iliyas talked of the political background. It has been mentioned aplenty in history how the development was from 'Darkness to Words' which signifies that literacy was introduced later into the community but Dr. Iliyas said that most of the important manuscripts were written during this so called dark period. Dr. Shamshad added about the gravity of how women were considered illiterate during the said time to which Dr. Iliyas added that it was not that the women were illiterate rather tagged as such.
The talk ended with an interactive session with the audience.